‘Harry Potter’ Actor Julie Walters Has Become A Dame For Services To Drama

Julie Walters became the mum everyone would love to have when she got the role as Ron Weasley's parent, Molly, in the Harry Potter franchise.

While some people might only know her for that eight-part series, she's been in the acting industry for decades, appearing in some other big-name movies, such as 2008's smash hit Mamma Mia, and she has won some very prestigious awards.

As a result, the 67-year-old has been made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to drama.

She was hilarious when she appeared on The Graham Norton Show. Credit: BBC

"I thought, 'I wish my parents were here'. It's a lovely thing, I can't explain it.

"The BAFTAs are fantastic and really important but it is about the business, and this is too but it's also about the country so it's special in that sense."

The actor even revealed what Queen Elizabeth II said to her when she received the honour at Buckingham Palace.

Credit: PA

Dame Julie revealed: "The Queen said, 'It's so marvellous that you've got this, I'm so pleased'. And, 'How long have you been doing acting?'. I said, '43 years', and she said, 'In so many different things, well done'."

Dame Julie has been steadily climbing the ladder of honours after first receiving an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1999, before being honoured with a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2008.

Her breakout role was Rita Susan White in the 1984 film Educating Rita, where she won a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award. Dame Julie also received several nominations for playing the dance teacher in Billy Elliot.

Credit: PA

"Then I get a bit of Molly Weasley and an awful lot about Mamma Mia."

But if you ask her about her favourite moment in Harry Potter (and let's be honest, there were plenty), she recounts the moment she told Helena Bonham Carter's character, Bellatrix Lestrange: "Not my daughter, you bitch."

In one of the DVD's Special Commentary sections, she says: "My favourite has got to be [that line]. It's so incongruous, I can't believe Mrs Weasley would say that!"

While she did say she was winding down her commitments, she has three movies slated for release this year, two next year and another on the horizon.